invention_45
New member
Here's part of the story (it's long, so I only grabbed part of it. I'm sure it's been reported in other places in its entirety).
"
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- A weeping Joseph Smith apologized Tuesday for the abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia two years ago, telling a judge he had taken large amounts of cocaine and heroin that day trying to kill himself.
Smith told Circuit Judge Andrew Owens, who will sentence Smith to death or life in prison, that "I do not ask for mercy for myself. The only thing I can see to give me a life sentence is for the sake of my family. I do not want to see my children hurt any further."
Carlie's February 2004 abduction drew nationwide attention because it was caught by a car wash surveillance camera and subsequently aired on TV. Smith, 39, was convicted in November. Friends and even Smith's brother said they recognized him on the video as the burly man in a mechanic's uniform grabbing the young girl's wrist as she walked home from a friend's house on Feb. 1, 2004.
Jurors recommended by a 10-2 vote that Smith be executed. Owens, under Florida law, must give "great weight" to the jury's recommendation when he sentences Smith on March 15.
Smith told Owens he had been a heroin addict since he was 19 and had unsuccessfully tried to quit several times. He said his wife had kicked him out of their home in January 2004 and he had lost his job. He said he took drugs trying to overdose and doesn't recall much of what happened the night he abducted Carlie.
"I lost my business, my family and my self-control," he said, as his mother, Patricia Davis, also wept in the courtroom gallery. "My world was really coming apart fast."
However, he said, "I take responsibility of my crimes. I don't understand how this could have happened.
"
What does this boil down to ?
A G.D. violent CRIMINAL wants to "accept responsibility" (but blame drugs at the same time) not for himself, no. For his Family.
What did he get, a PR consultant? The only cliche' he didn't use was "I found the Lord".
Hello. Drugs did not kill Carlie. OWENS killed Carlie. Now Owens wants us to all think drugs made him do it. The excuse is stupid and invalid on its face. If he had robbed her, then it would at least sound like a plausible story (but he STILL would be responsible, NOT drugs).
First you abduct (and, presumably kill) an 11 year old girl. There's death penalty material if I ever saw it. Then you blame drugs, providing fodder for keeping "criminals" without victims in jail, instead of TRULY accepting the blame yourself. That's worth a 2nd death penalty.
He takes responsibility, but he doesn't know how it happened.
If he "takes responsibility", he shouldn't be up there begging for life in place of death. Accept is accept.
What a despicable show he put on, tear-dabbing and all.
What if, instead of trying to overdose on heroin and cocaine, he'd picked up a .357 and started trying to shoot himself but couldn't quite do it and missed, killing Carlie with an errant bullet?
Then he'd be blaming it on the gun. And we'd be hearing about that as a reason to ban them.
So let's use our heads, folks. De-fund Prohibition-II. Put the money into investigation of REAL crime with REAL victims and make the world a better place.
"
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- A weeping Joseph Smith apologized Tuesday for the abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia two years ago, telling a judge he had taken large amounts of cocaine and heroin that day trying to kill himself.
Smith told Circuit Judge Andrew Owens, who will sentence Smith to death or life in prison, that "I do not ask for mercy for myself. The only thing I can see to give me a life sentence is for the sake of my family. I do not want to see my children hurt any further."
Carlie's February 2004 abduction drew nationwide attention because it was caught by a car wash surveillance camera and subsequently aired on TV. Smith, 39, was convicted in November. Friends and even Smith's brother said they recognized him on the video as the burly man in a mechanic's uniform grabbing the young girl's wrist as she walked home from a friend's house on Feb. 1, 2004.
Jurors recommended by a 10-2 vote that Smith be executed. Owens, under Florida law, must give "great weight" to the jury's recommendation when he sentences Smith on March 15.
Smith told Owens he had been a heroin addict since he was 19 and had unsuccessfully tried to quit several times. He said his wife had kicked him out of their home in January 2004 and he had lost his job. He said he took drugs trying to overdose and doesn't recall much of what happened the night he abducted Carlie.
"I lost my business, my family and my self-control," he said, as his mother, Patricia Davis, also wept in the courtroom gallery. "My world was really coming apart fast."
However, he said, "I take responsibility of my crimes. I don't understand how this could have happened.
"
What does this boil down to ?
A G.D. violent CRIMINAL wants to "accept responsibility" (but blame drugs at the same time) not for himself, no. For his Family.
What did he get, a PR consultant? The only cliche' he didn't use was "I found the Lord".
Hello. Drugs did not kill Carlie. OWENS killed Carlie. Now Owens wants us to all think drugs made him do it. The excuse is stupid and invalid on its face. If he had robbed her, then it would at least sound like a plausible story (but he STILL would be responsible, NOT drugs).
First you abduct (and, presumably kill) an 11 year old girl. There's death penalty material if I ever saw it. Then you blame drugs, providing fodder for keeping "criminals" without victims in jail, instead of TRULY accepting the blame yourself. That's worth a 2nd death penalty.
He takes responsibility, but he doesn't know how it happened.
If he "takes responsibility", he shouldn't be up there begging for life in place of death. Accept is accept.
What a despicable show he put on, tear-dabbing and all.
What if, instead of trying to overdose on heroin and cocaine, he'd picked up a .357 and started trying to shoot himself but couldn't quite do it and missed, killing Carlie with an errant bullet?
Then he'd be blaming it on the gun. And we'd be hearing about that as a reason to ban them.
So let's use our heads, folks. De-fund Prohibition-II. Put the money into investigation of REAL crime with REAL victims and make the world a better place.
They should have done the same thing to Scott Peterson